There was a handful of resorts on a stretch of beach called Playacar, reached by dirt road from Playa del Carmen, the dusty fishing town where you caught the ferry to Cozumel.
Getting to Playa del Carmen took up to an hour on a potholed, two-lane road from Cancun airport.
Sixteen years and four visits later, the Mayan Riviera is barely recognizable.
It now stretches for 130 kilometres, from Puerto Morelos, 18 km south of the airport, to Tulum. Along it are 360 hotels with 36,000 rooms.
The airport has been replaced by a huge, privately operated one. A four-lane divided highway runs along the coast.
Playa del Carmen's population has exploded to more than 250,000. Its annual growth rate of nearly 20 per cent was until recently the highest in Latin America.
I spent a day last month with Jeanette Rigter of the Riviera Maya Tourism Board getting up to speed on new developments. Here are some of them:
- Alltournative, an adventure company, has a half-day, small-group excursion called Rio Secreto, or Secret River. Guests don helmets with flashlights, wetsuits and life jackets and descend about 18 metres to an underground river. Walking, and in one stretch swimming, they explore caverns and view stalactites, stalagmites and coral.
I did an Alltournative trip in 2002, when the company was getting started. The best part was visiting a genuine Maya community deep in the jungle, where we zip-lined, rappelled down a cenote, canoed, lunched on traditional food and met some of the villagers. Called Mayan Encounter, it remains one of their most popular tours. Visit www.alltournative.com.
- Hidden Worlds Cenotes Park's SkyCycle lets visitors pedal a cable bicycle suspended at treetop level over rainforest, enter caverns, and snorkel a natural underground river system. Visit: www.hiddenworlds.com/default.aspx
- The newest attractions at Xcaret, a sprawling theme park, are "Vino de Mexico," a wine cellar selling only Mexican wines, and an opportunity to swim with sharks. Visit www.xcaret.com.
- Tulum by Night uses lasers to highlight features of these Mayan ruins. Guests use headsets to listen to the commentary, given in five languages. Rigter said the headsets blot out distracting noises at this busy site.
- Although the Mayan Riviera has a high percentage of four- and five-star resorts, even more upscale ones are coming, including such brands as Mandarin Oriental, Fairmont, Rosewood, Banyan Tree and Viceroy.
- Look for more ecologically sound practices, like those employed at the new Hacienda Tres Rios. Instead of tearing out precious mangrove forest, the resort was built above it on columns. Underground water pre-cools the air-conditioning system, and the heat that system generates is captured. Motion sensors in guest rooms turn lights off automatically, and the air-conditioner shuts off if patio doors are opened.
Insider's tips
- Rigter took me to Yaxche, on 8th Street, between Fifth Avenue and Tenth, which serves Maya cuisine. She suggested chayanade, made from a jungle plant rich in iron and flavoured with lime, followed by massewal, a lime and shredded chicken soup with tortilla strips. We split an order of cochinita pibil, orange-marinated pork wrapped in a banana leaf and slow-cooked. It came with beans, rice, tiny tortillas.
Yaxche has been honoured by the National Chamber of Restaurants as the best restaurant in Mexico specializing in regional cuisine.
- You can get a big plate of food for US$9 or so at Tarraya, a fish and seafood restaurant in business right on the water that's been around since 1968.
- Jardin de Marieta, a passageway off Fifth Avenue, provides respite from the crowds and heat. It's peaceful, shaded by tall trees, and has attractive shops and eating places.
Romantic getaway in Mexico
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